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Profissional Documentos
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Author
Title.
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Imprint.
Book ....0.4=._
W—IT3n-I
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
JUL 2 6 1933
689
^UTOM^TIC SHOTaXJN^
Committee on the Territories,
House of Eepresentatives,
Thursday, March "29, 1906.
The committee met at 10.30 o'clock a. m.. Hon. Edward L. Hamil-
ton (chairman) in the chair.
The Chairjian. The meeting of the committee was called this
morning for a hearing on House known as the automatic-
bill 119-19,
gun bill. Are any gentlemen here ready to address the committee in
favor of the bill ?
Mr. Lr,i'>-r>. Before you proceed, give your name, residence, and
;...,.,. lion, and why you
<
are here.
Mr. Shields. I am president of the League of American Sports-
men, and I live in New York City.
Mr. Lloyd. You are here in the interests of that league ?
Mr. Shields. In the interest of the League of American Sports-
men and of a number of other bodies, whose names will appear as we
progress, in docuiucntarv evidence. I want to make a personal ex-
planation in this connection. I want to tell vou gentlemen that I
have been devoting iiearlv all my life to the work of game preserva-
tien. I am on record in 1878 as having petitioned the Ohio legisla-
ture to enact ajaw to protect the wild pigeon, and I am on record as
far liack as 1872 as trying to get Congress to enact a law to protect
tlic 1)1 Halo.
1 I have been working in the interest of these various
species of wild animals and birds from 1865, from the time I came out
of the Army in the civil war, up to to-day. Of course, in the mean-
time I have had to make my living as I went along, but I have been in
this work in the interests of wild animals and birds for nothing; have
never got a cent of salary out of it have paid my own expenses all
;
the time, and have put in the work of the League of American Sports-
men $15,000 of my own monev. That is my record in this matter,
briefly.
I am accused by certain gun people— I will not say whom—of doing
this work against the automatic shotgun from malicious
motives. It
lias I)eensaid; and I have letters on file that have beer "'-itten to cer-
tain people, trying to oppose this automatic-gu'- -arious
places, to the effect that I aiu doing this becaus<^ rs and
o9U (,\
2 AUTOMATIC SHOTGUN. -*
kH\ t"
ammunition makers withdrew their advertising from Recreatio:
JNIagazine, whicli I published up to a year ago. If any of you ar
interested in knowing tlie facts about tliat, 1 liave a copy of tha
magazine here containing the advertisements of tlie ITnion Metalli
Cartridge Company, the Winchester Arms Company, and tlie Rem
ington Arms Company, the people who are opposing us to-day in ou,
effort to secure laws to prohibit the use of this automatic gun. The;;
are all directly or indirectly interested in the measure which is nov
before you.
This magazine contains half-page advertisements of those thr&
corporations and of a number of others in the gun and amniunitioi
business. That issue also contains a severe criticism, a severe arraign
ment, of the so-called " pump gun," the repeating shotgun, whicl
hres six shots in ten seconds, and perhajDS in less than that.
I inaugurated in that issue a very strenuous crusade against tha
weai^on, and I have been fighting it from that day to this. I liav
been making rapid progress, as will apj^ear lure from documents, ii,
creating public sentiment against the use of these murderous weapons
i:ot only the automatic shotgun, bat the repeating shotgun as well. ^
have all this time been conducting a crusade against the reckles
slaughter of game with any weapon, whatever it may be, and havi
been iirging the enactment of laws to prohibit the sale of game; t(
prohibit the shipment of game from one State to another; to linii
the number of birds which a man may kill in a day and I think yoi
;
all know that great progress has been made on all those lines. Al
the States have enacted laws looking to the i^reservation of thei
game, and some of them more stringent and drastic laws than otherj
The sentiment of the ])eo]de of the United States, and of C; M,la J
well, is to-dav rapidlv crystallizing in the direction of giving to
tliJ
wild animals' and liirils of this countrv every possible show for thei
existence and of limiting the time of killing them and the number o
those that mav be killed. These tilings must be done, or m
a tev
hunt
years there will be no game left in this countrv for anybody to
can easilv see that the time is not far distant when the
onl.
We eithe
living wild animals and birds will be those on preserves,
surround
public or private, and such game as may overflow on to the
ing territory. These are the conditions as you will tind them,
tlios
AUTOMATIC SHOTGUN. 3
Mr. Hornaday is the author of the best natural history that has
ever been written of American wild animals and birds.
The New York Zoological Society, at its annual meeting last Jan-
uary, passed this resolution
Resolved, That the New York Zoological Society condemns the use of the
automatic shotgun as unsportsmanlike and highly destructive to bird life, and
that the society urges on the legislature of this State the passage of a law pro-
hibiting is use.
The Camp Fire Club, of New York City, at its last meeting pre-
ceding January IT, 190<i, the date of this letter, adopted the following
resolution
Resolved. That this association emphatically condemns and protests against
the introduction and use of the so-called automatic shotgun in the hunting of
birds or other game, and w-e respectfully request the New York legislatiire to
enact a law prohibiting the use of such weapon for such purpose.
The New York Association for the Protection of Fish and Game
isone of the oldest game protective associations in the United States
and niunbers among its members such men as Grover Cleveland, Hon.
Perrv Belmont, Hon. Warner Miller, Hon. Robert B. Eoosevelt,
William P. Clyde. J. Coleman Drayton, Charles R. Flint, Gen. J.
Fred Pierson, Gen. Warren M. Healv, and F. Augusttis Schermer-
: : :
4 AUTOMATIC SHOTGUN.
I have here also a letter from Mr, J, Bissell Speer. secretary and
treasurer of the Lewis and Clark Clul), of Pittsburg, Pa., a society
whose object is the protection of fish and game, whose memljership
list is full, which has anx)ng its memliership many men of national
and even international reputation. He writes me under date of
January 19, 1906, as follows:
It afCords me pleasure to state that at its last meeting the Lewis and Clark
Club unanimously adopted the following resolution condemning the use of the
automatic gun :
" Resolved, That this association emphatically condemns and protests against
the introduction and use of the so-called automatic shotgun in the hunting of
birds or other game, and we respectfully request our legislature to enact a law
prohibiting the use of such weapon for such purposes."
Of the 45 men present, not one raised a dissenting voice. The Lewis and
Clark Club Is a unit in opposing the use of this gun, so far as I am able to learn.
Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, held on the 9th
ultimo, a motion was made and carried :
" That this society send ,^25 to the New York Zoological Society, to be used
in the war which it is now waging against the automatic shotgun."
Furthermore, the following resolution was unanimously passed
" Resolved. That this association emphatically condemns and protests against
the inti'oduction and use of the so-called automatic shotgun in the hunting of
birds or other game, and respectfully requests the Pennsylvania legislature to
enact a law prohibiting the use of such weapon for such purpose."
6(
AUTOMATTC SHOTGUN. PS
for the purpose of protecting- animals and birds, addressed to Mr.
William T. Hornadav. in which he says:
My Dear Mb. Horxaday It is with much surprise that I learn through your
:
<-ommunicatiou of eveu»date that certain persons are claiming that the National
Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Animals and Birds
is in favor of the use of automatic or pump guns and consequently is not in
favor the passage of laws to prevent the use or sale of such firearms.
The statement was made publicly that the secretary of this asso-
ciation had declared himself opposed to any expression or legislation
against the automatic gun. [Reading:]
to state that the National Association of Audubon Societies is
I lieg officially
absolvitely opposed to either the manufacture, sale, or use of such firearms, and
thei-efore hopes that the meritorious bill introdnced liy the New York Zoological
Society will become a law.
This bill prohibiting the use of the automatic gun was introduced
into this Congress and into the legislatures of a dozen States at the
instance of the New York Zoological Society and the Audubon so-
cieties. Mr. Uutcher continues:
1 beg further to add that any stateiiu'iit cuutrary to the above in effect
is unauthorized.
This society is working for the preservation of the wild birds and game of
North -Vmeriea, and it sincerely should not stulllfy itself by advocating the use
of one of the most potent means of destruction that has ever been devised.
Ton are at lilierty to use this comnnmication either publicly or privately.
1 am. very sincerely, yours,
V>'iLLiAM DuTCHER, President.
Mr. Caprox. Has there been any law enacted in the Province of
•Ontario prohibiting the use of that gun i
i\Ir. Shields. Tlie bill was defeated there last winter in their com-
anittee. and it is up now again with, they say. a fair chance of passage,
in spite of the oj^position but the Provinces of Manitoba and Alberta
;
have enacted laws against tliis gun, and they are on tlie statute books
there to-day, so that the gun can not be used there legally.
The Chairman. Assuming that this is a highly destructive gun,
the Chair would suggest that you discuss what may be the constitu-
tional, legal questions relating to its use.
Mr. Shields. Yes, sir; I will come to that shortly.
Mr. McKiNNEY. And I wish Mr. Shields would take up the dis-
cussion in some way of the question why one particular arm should
be prohibited in its use. rather than that we shoidd have a general
prohibition of the use of any aruL
Mr. Shields. I will say in answer to that question that, personally,
T would be glad to see a law enacted to prohibit the use of any gun
on God's earth in hunting any wild animal or bird for at least five
years to come.
Mr. HiGGiNS. In other words, you would prohibit absolutely the
use of firearms for the hunting of any kind of game I
Mr. Shields. Yes. sir: for at least five years.
Mr. HiGGiNS. And make that general throughout the country?
Mr. Shields. Yes. sir; but such laws are impossible to-day. There
are 10,000,000 shotguns in use in this country, and it would be prac-
tically impossible to secure the enactment of laws in any State jJi'o-
hibiting the use of firearms for any such length of time. A number
of States have passed laws prohibiting the shooting of certain
species of game for three years at a time, and with very beneficial
results. AAHien I say I would prohibit all shooting for five years I
am speaking for the Audubon people and for the nonsporting and
bird-loving peo^Dle of this country. There are hundreds of thou-
sands of men and women who do not shoot and who do not approve
of the shooting of birds or animals. Personally I like to go out and
kill a bird occasionally; but I would deny myself that right for
five years or for the rest of my natural life if it would result in
restoring the birds of the countrj^ in such numbers as they were here
twenty years ago.
There are several decisions of the United States Supreme Court,
and I can furnish you copies of them any day that you may want
them, from the Department of Agriculture, in which the United
States Supreme Court has held that the game in each State belongs
to the ]3eople of the State in their sovereign capacity: that the taking
or killing of that game is a privilege which the State may extend to
the people: that that privilege may be limited and aliridged in any
wav that the State sees fit to abridge it.
]\Ir. Powers. That is as to the privilege of killing?
Mr. Shields. Yes, sir; and of selling.
Mr. Powers. We have that in my State.
Mr. Caprox. That is true always, acknowledging that the author-
ity of the State covers this entire subject. I should like to ask you
if you do not think that the Territorial legislatures of the several
Territories have absolute jurisdiction over this subject so far as the
Territories are concerned, barring Alaska?
6^b
:
AUTOMATIC SHOTGUN.
AUTOMATIC SHOTGUN. 9
weelis I find your letter of Nevember 11. reiiuesting a list of the States that
have laws regulating the gauge of guns that may be used in hunting birds.
Nearly all the States and the provinces of Canada have some legislation of
this kind, usually prohibiting the use of swivel guns, or those which can not be
fired from the slioulder. The following lists will show how general this legis-
lation is
(1) States which prohibit swivel guns (usually for hunting water fowl) :
698
10 AUTOMATIC SHOTGUN.
Mr. Shields. The automatic is tlie only one mentioned in this bill;
but I gave notice five years ago to all concerned that we must pro-
hibit the use of all re2oeating rifles and shotguns if we are to have
any birds or animals left in this country. I have told these gentle-
men in half a dozen hearings we have been in that within a few years
we shall have to ask Congress and the States to pass laws prohibiting
the use of all repeating sliotguns and rifles. We might just as well
face this matter. Mr. Hornaday has also stated for years past that
the time must come when all this must be done, or else we must sub-
mit to having our forests and our fields become as barren of wild
animal and bird life as these Capitol grounds to-day. You may
occasionally see a robin here, or a bluebird, but if the use of all kinds
of gims is not curtailed to the greatest possible extent the time will
-come when you will ne\er see a wild bird anywhere except on pre-
served ground. This letter from the Agricultural Department also
gives the following
(3) States whicb prohibit guus larger than No. 10 gauge: Alaska, .\rizoiia,
Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Utah.
Now, gentlemen, if you can limit the size of the hole in the barrel
of a gun which may be used in hunting birds you can certainly limit
the number of cartridges it may carry. [Reading:]
(4) States which prohibit guns larger than No. 8 gauge: Tennessee, Vir-
ginia, Ontario, Quebec.
(5) Provinces which prohibit the use of the automatic gmi : Manitoba,
Northwest Territor.y.
Mr. HiGGiNS. So far as you are concerned personally you are op-
posed to the use of any sort, of a gun for the killing of game 1
Mr. Shields. I am willing to assent to that, and personally I am
in favor of it.
Mr. HiGoiNs. That is what you would do if it was left to you?
That would prohibit what is known as the double-barreled shotgun?
Mr. Shields. Yes, sir.
Mr. HioGiNs. Will you not conunent, please, on the ditference be-
tween the quantity of game that can be killed by the ordinary double-
barreled shotgun and the quantity that can be killed by the gim this
bill discriminates against?
Mr. Shields. I A^ill answer that by a letter from Mr. Arthur Rob-
inson, which reads as follows:
Danx & RoniNsox,
New York, March 9.1. lOOG.
Mr. G. O. Shields.
IZG'.t Broadway. Xcw YorJc City.
Deak Sih Regarding the use of the automatic shotgun, would say that I am
:
a menilier of two southern ducking clubs, where these giuis are used very ex-
tensively. I have seen a (lock of ducks come into a blind where one. two. or
even three of these guns were in use, and have seen as many as 11 sliots poured
into a single flock.
If there had been but three men with double-ljarreled guns there
would have been only six shots.
Mr. HiGGixs. They could have reloaded.
Mr. Shields. Yes; but the birds would go 100 feet while the men
were getting the empty shells out, reaching after the new shells, put-
: :
AUTOMATIC SHOTGUN. 11
ting lliem in. cldsing the gun. ami getting it to their shoulder.
(Reading:)
We have considernble iioaching ou one of these clubs, the territory being so
extensive that it is iuii)ossit)le to prevent it. We own 00.000 neves, and these
poaeliers. I am told, nearly all use the automatic guns. They frequently kill
six or eight ducks out of one flock, first taking a raking shot on the water, and
then getting in the remainder of the magazine before the flock is out of range,
in fact. Sunn- of them carry two guns, and are able to discharge a part of the
second magazine into the same flock.
Fire five shots out of the first gun drop it pick up the other, and
;
;
get in part of that magazine before the birds get 75 yards away,
which is about the limit of killing range. This letter continues
As I told you the other evening. I am not so much against the gun when in
the hands of gentlemen and real sportsmen, but. on account of its terrible pos-
sibilities for market hunters, 1 believe that the only safe way is to abolish
it entirely, ami 1:hat the better class should be willing 'to give up this weapon
as being the only means of putting a stop to this willful game slaughter.
Very trnl.v. yours.
Arthitk Robinson.
you about the automatic shotgun and tell you I am fighting it." He
said, " I know it, and I am with you heart and soul." I said, That '"
is good; and now may I quote you to that effect?" He said, " Yes.
Sit down, I want to talk with you." We sat down and talked over the
matter for half an hour. Here is the interview as I wrote it out. I
sent him a typewritten co^jy of it and wrote him
Mr. President, here is a copy of the interview that I had with you. If I
have not (luoted you correctly, please say so. If you do not wish me to use the
interview at all. say so. If there are any changes you would like me to make in
it please make them.
12 AUTOMATIC SHOTGTJlir.
701
AUTOMATIC SHOTGUN. 13
in the Bad Lands of the upper Missouri Kiver. In those days we did not think
it would over be necessary to restrict the killing of game. We did not realize
then that wild animals could be photographed alive in their native haunts.
We have lived to see all these conditions changed. The head hunters, the
skin hunters, and the thoughtless sportsmen have swept these herds of noble
wild animals off the earth", or have decreased their numbers to such an extent
that all we can do now is to preserve and perpetuate the remnant.
We have seen the prairie chicken and the wild turkey e.xterminated in certain
States where they \\ere once abundant. We have seen the quail and the wood-
cock and the rufCed grouse decimated, until but pitiable remnants of these noble
species remain. Hereafter thouglitful sportsmen should bend their utmost ener-
gies to the preservation of what is left, and where shooting can be permitted at
all it slinnld lie with a view to the preservation of species rather than to the
making of big bags.
He said he wanted the sportsmen of this country to understand that they
have his hearty sympathy in their efforts to save our wild animals from ex-
termination, and that he will do all in his power to aid in this good work.
In bis latest book, " Pastimes of an American Hunter," the President says:
" True sportsmen, worthy of the name, men who shoot only in season and in
moderation, do no harm whatever to game. The most olijectionable of all game
destroyers is, of course, the kind of game butcher who simply kills for the sake
of the record of slaughter, who leaves deer and ducks and prairie chickens to
rot after he has slain them. Such a man is wholly obnoxious and, indeed, so
;
is any man who shoots for the purpose of establishing a record of the quantity
of game Idlled. To my mind this is one unfortunate feature of what is other-
wise the admirably sportsmanlike English spirit in these matters. The custom
of shooting great bags of deer, grouse, quails, and pheasants, the keen rivalry in
making such bags, and their publication in sportsmen's journals, are symptoms
of a spirit which is most unhealthy from every standpoint. It is to be earnestly
hoped that every American hunting or fishing club will strive to inculcate among
its own members, and in the minds of the general public, that anything lilce an
excessive bag, any destruction for the sake of making a record, is to be severely
reprobated,"
My Dear Shields I am sorryi to say that I must ask you, under no circum-
:
stances, to put me in quotation marks for though you give the sense of what
;
I said, you in no case give the exact language used, so do not try to quote me in
the first person or to use quotation marlvs. You can state that my views are
substantially as you have quoted them, but don't actually quote them.
Sincerely, yours,
Theodore Roosevelt.
said, " I am with you in sentiment." and I said, May I quote j'ou in.
•'
print? " He said, " Yes," and lie sat down and tallied with me and
gave me this interview for publication.
Mr. Capron. Would it not be an entirely different thing, giving
you his views for discussion in a magazine and giving you something,
if he had known that it would be brought before a legislative com-
mittee of Congress for the purpose of influencing legislation Do you 'i
think he would then have given you that expression of his opinion?
It is everything in the bearing which it has in this connection, in my
judgment.
]Mr. Shields. I have no desire to place this matter
Mr. Klepper. Under the rules of the committee could we not. after
we hear the reading of these letters, strike out that j^ortion of the
hearing that refers to anything that the President may have said ?
Mr. Cole. Did he give you any authority in that letter to use it in
this connection?
Mr. Shields. Most emphatically. Here is his letter. Pass it
among you; j'ou can all look at it [offering letter to the committee].
He says that I have reported the substance of what he said, and that
I might go ahead and use it. Here ai'e several copies of the inter-
view as finally used, not in the first person, and not quoted. What
the President objects to is that when I sent this out to some of the
newspapers some of them edited it liberally, ])ut it in quotation marks,,
and put it in the first person, which I did not do.
VUcJ
AUTOMATIC SHOTGUN. 15
what purports to be tliese quotations, you in no ease give the exact language
that I used. By pretending thus to give it, and by what you omit, as well as
what you insert whieh I had not said, you convey on certain points an entirely
false impression, and .you leave me no alternative but to explicitly rejaidiate
your statement, whieh I hereby do. Had you been content to say that you gave
the general sense of what I said you would ha\e done what you were authorized
to do. But when you attempted to give my exact words you not only did what
T explicitly told you you should not do, but you used language which I explicitly
told you was in no case accurate. Xot one single sentence you quote is as I
said it. Some of the sentences are sheer inventions. Others ai'e inventions In
part, and some of the things I said were omitted. It is uimecessary to char-
acterize such conduct on your part.
Yours, etc., Theodore Roosevelt.
Mr. G. O. Shields.
126il Broadivay. Room 601, Netc York.
preposterous
The gentleman knows of that decision of this judge of the United
States circuit court, Judge Ross. He knew of it before he came here,
and he knew that the constitutionality of an act of this character
would be i^resented in a decision rendered by a Federal judge in
this country in California upon precisely the jDoint involved here,
and yet, knowing of this decision and knowing that this inquiry
woidd be made of him as to whether this bill was constitutional, he
comes here and indidges in general remarks to the effect that the
Supreme Court of the United States would have reversed Judge
Ross if that case had been taken up; and yet he can not cite a case,
although the chairman of the committee asks him to particularize.
Of course he can not cite a case, because there is no such case. Of
course States have a right to limit the amount of game which can
be killed and also to place a limitation as to the time within which
game shall be killed, and within such limitations the Supreme Court
of the United States has held such laws constitutional. But here
is a bill determined by a competent authority to be unconstitutional
after a full and exhaustive hearing, and did the gentleman entertain
the views of this matter, that he claims to entertain, it would have
been a very simple matter to bring here the decision of the Supreme
Court of the United States to which he has referred, because the
decision of Judge Ross was rendered in 1900. He coidd have gotten
to the Supreme Court of the United States if he was so deeply inter-
^.sted in the principle which he advocates.
— -
/U4
16 •
AUTOMATIC SHOTGUN.
The Chairman. Now, I assume, Mr. Bovee, that you are also
speaking in the interest of the industries which you represent?
Mr. Bovee. Yes, sir.
Tlie CHAiRMA>f. And are you in favor of wliat we all regard as a
very laudable object, that of the iDreservation of game?
Mr. Bovee. Undoubtedly so, sir. And these industries are all
interested in the protection of the game. If the game is to be killed
ofl' of the face of this continent, the business of the manufacturers of
the A^'inchester rifle and the Winchester shotgun and all the other
—
arms that they manufacture and it is the same with the Remington
—
Arms Company is going to be swept away in that respect. They
believe in legitimate limitation as to the number of quail and par-
tridge and deer which may be killed, and that within the season.
They are in favor of all such limitations.
Mr. Klepper. Do we imderstand by your statements that Mr.
Shields has submitted to this committee what the President said in
quotation marks?
Mr. Bovee. I understand only what the record shows. I have
read the letter from the President to Mr. Shields protesting against
the publication of the article which has been submitted to the com-
mittee.
Mr. Klepper. It is not claimed, as I read it, that it is in quotation
—
marks what the President said.
Mr. Reid. It does not purjDort to be quoted at all.
Mr. Klepper. No; it does not purport to be quoted. It says at
the end of the interview:
In his latest book, Pastimes of an American Hunter, the President says
— —
I'l-esidcnt In xiinii.iDirii Pleads for iirrsirnilidii uf irihi animal
matic shoti/ini conih limed OK threatriiinii r.iliiiniinitiuii nf birds —Case ofAuto-
life
the
elk and huff ulo— Killing for sake of record uiispiirlsiininlil.T.
*^05
AUTOMATIC SHOTGUN. 17
House on .lanuiuy ]7. ami the couversation turned upon the automatic shotgun.
When he saw what views the President held. Mr. Shields asked permission to
him. The President's reply, as given by the magazine, was as follows
iliiote
By all means. You may say I regard that weapon as a serious menace to the
bird life of tliis coimtry. and that I am heartily in favor of the enactment of
laws to jirohibit its use in the hunting of birds and wild animals. Shields, you
and I have lived through the time when the buffalo and the antelope were
everywhere on the plains; v.'hen great herds of elk could be found in almost
any range oi mountains west of the Mississippi : when mountain sheep trav-
eled in great bands, even down in the Bad Lands of the upper Missouri River,
In those days we did not think it would ever be necessary to restrict the ivilling
of game. We did not realize then that wild animals could be photographed
alive in their native haunts,
We have lived to .see all these conditions changed. The head hunters, the
skin Imnters, and the thoughtless sportsmen have swept these herds of noble
wild animals off the earth or have decreased their numbers to such an extent
that all we can do now is to preserve and perpetuate the remnant.
" We lirive seen the prairie chicken and the wild turkey exterminated in cer-
tain States where they v>ere once abundant. We have seen the quail and the
woodcock and the rufCetl grouse decimated until but iiitiable remnants of these
noble species remain. Hereafter thoughtful sportsmen should bend their utmost
I'uergies to the preservation of what is left, and where shooting can be per-
mitted at all it should be with a view to the preservation of species rather than
to the making of big bags.
Mr. Shields, I want you and all the sportsmen of this country who are work-
ing with you to understand that you and they have my hearty sympathy in
your efforts to save our wild animals from extermination, and that I will do
all in my power to aid in your woiic."
In his latest book, Pastimes of an American Hunter, the President says:
" True sportsmen, worthy of the name, men who shoot only in season and in
moderation, do no harm whatever to game. The most objectionable of all game
destroyers is, of course, the kind of game butcher who simply kills for the sake
of the record of slaughter, who leaves deer and ducks and prairie chickens to
rot after he has slain them. Such a man is wholly obnoxious and, indeed, so
;
is any man who shoots for tlie purpose of establishing a record of the quantity
of game killed. To my mind this is one unfortunate feature of what is other-
wise the admirably sportsmanlike English spirit in these matters. The custom
of shooting great bags of deer, grouse, quail, and pheasants, the keen rivalry in
making sueli bags and their pulilication in sportsmen's journals are s.vmptoms
of a spirit which is most unhealthy from ever.y standpoint. It is to be earnestly
hoped that every American htinting or fishing club will strive to inculcate among
its own members and in the minds of the .general public that an.vthing like an
excessive liag. any destruction for the sake of making a record, is to be severely
reprobated."
Mr, Powers. Did I not uiideri3tand Mr. Shields correctly to say that
while he did not in his magazine put what the President said in quo-
tation marks, as the language of the President, he sent the interview
as prepared by him out to newspapers, and the newspapers changed
it and published it in that way, putting that language in quotation
marks?
j\Ir.BovEE. I understand that to be the fact; btit it is a significant
fact that in two newspapers in New York City the quotations from
the President are in the same form —
in the New York Sun and the
New York World.
The Chairjian. After all. while we all of us have a very high re-
gard for the President, and for his ojDinions on all questions, is this
question of the construction of what he said and wrote to Mr. Shields
at all vital in this controversy ?
Mr. BovEE. I do not think so; I think it ought to have been left
out entirely.
The Chairm.\x. And ought we not to get down now to the question
of the bill ?
18 AUTOMATIC SHOTGUN.
Mr. BovEE. think so. The interview with the President is sub-
I
stantially as appears in the New York Sun. There was but one
it
interview with the President of the United States, and the Presi-
dent repudiates it, and there is the report of that interview to which
he undouliedly has reference [referring to newspaper article].
The CirAiRjrAN. Do you doubt that he is in favor of the preserva-
tion of game?
Mr. BovEE. He is ; certainly.
The Chairji.\n. And I have no doubt that all the members of this
committee and the people of the countrv generally are in sympathy
with Mr. Shields's efforts in that directmn. The question now is as
to the constitutionality of this measure, and if it may be construed
to be constituticmal. whether it would be desirable to report such a
bill.
Mr. BovEE. Yes, sir. Now. let me say that this bill applies to four
Territories. Tlie criticism of one of the memljers of tlie connnittee
clearly pointed to the fact that in each of these Territories they liave
a legislative body competent to pass upon a bill of this character. Tf
a bill of this character is constitutional, and can be made a law.
there is a legislative body for that jaurpose in the Territory, and tlie
qnestion naturally arises why is not that the place to go with such a
bill, where representatives from the different ])arts of these terri-
tories, having full and particular knowledge of the conditions exist-
ing in the dift'erent parts of the Territory, coming as they do from all
the different parts and ramifications of that Territory, could deter-
mine whether such a bill is practical and necessary?
Mr. Powers. In all the acts relating to Alaska we find that Alaska
is designated not as a Territory, but as '• the district of Alaska." It
is not in any of the laws or acts passed concerning it referred to as a
Territory.
Mr. Bovee. Yes. sir. I do not think this bill had in contemplation
Alaska. This bill was presented to the legislature in Oklahoma, and
it. has been defeated. It is a fact that no State in the Union has
passed this bill. It has been attempted to be passed in the State of
Massachusetts, and has been defeated; in the State of Connecticut
twice, and defeated; in the State of New York once, and never en-
acted into law. It was submitted last year, and it was submitted on
the same arguments that have been made here to-day, and was never
reported out of the committee. It was defeated in the State of New
Jersey twice. In the State of Pennsylvania it was presented three
times, and never enacted } in tlie State of Michigan once, and de-
feated in the State of Wisconsin once, and defeated in the State of
; ;
Minnesota twice, and defeated in North and South Dakota, and de-
;
feated, and perhaps North and South Dakota, on the question of the
preservation of the sage hen or the jDartridge, might be said to be
deeply interested in an enactment of this character. In California it
was ijresented and defeated, in the State of Kansas it was defeated, in
Missouri it was defeated, in the State of Arkansas it was defeated,
and in the State of Kentucky it was defeated.
The Chairman. It was defeated in committee
Mr. BovEE. It was never enacted into a law, after several presenta-
tions in many of these States, on the same arguments that have been
made here to-day. And. gentlemen, we ought not to be misled by the
enthusiastic expressions on the general subject of the preservation of
707
19
AUTOMATIC SHOTGUN.
game killed, at any time, or any birds whatever. There are hundreds
and thousands of people who entertain views of that character, and
you could get all sorts of letters.
But here is the practical question: It concedes the right of a man
to use a repeating rifle which will shoot 13 times without taking the
gun from the shoulder. It concedes the right to use a revolver which
will shoot any number of times without lowering the hand, just by
pressing the trigger. It concedes the right to use any self-loading
gun, or any gun of any sort, except this form of gun which has been
invented by this gentleman over there. Mr. Browning, and which is
in the course of manufacture by the Remington company. If you
are going to prohibit an advanced firearm like this, why not prohibit
the Eemmgton rifle and the Winchester repeating rifle, which shoots
9 times, and why give a gentleman who is exterminating moose and
deer and caribou a preference over the man who is using a shotgun?
And in respect to the shotgun, the double-barreled gun is not pro-
liibited. They do not infringe on your right to use a double-barreled
shotgun. Say that a bunch of quail starts up and a man shoots one
there and one there. That is two shots. \\Tiere are the quail by
that time? Are they sitting there on a branch waiting for him to
shoot again?
Mr. Capron. (renerallv. when some of us shoot, thev are. [Laugh-
ter.]
INIr. BovEE. i can give you an illusti'ation from an interesting let-
ter written by a local sportsman out in the West: Three of them
went f)ut to shoot jack rabbits. Two
of them had the noxious and
vicious automatic gmis. One of them was on one side and one on
the other of this sportsman, and he had his old Parker gun, shooting
2 shots, and he describes in the most interesting way how these gen-
tlemen showed how they had nothing to do but throw up the gun and
pull the trigger. Well, he got the jack rabbits with his old Parker
gun, and these gentlemen had the pleasure of shooting into the air.
And it goes without saying that the sight can not be held on a bird,
and that sight must be taken at each bird separately', almost as
though the gun was removed from the shoulder, because the I'ecoil
will throw it off.
]\Ir. What is the advantage of the gun ?
Reid.
Mr. Bo\'EB. I do not know what the advantage is in the gun. It
is supposed that it is an advance in the line of the manufacture of
firearms.
Mr. Reid. It ought to have some useful purpose if it is patented.
Mr. BovEE. Yes, sir; and I presume that it has. It carries five
shots.
Mr. Powers. Have you ever examined into the laws of the State
of Maine in this regard ?
jNIr. Bo\'EE. No, sir.
) — — :
708
20 AUTOMATIC SHOTGITN.
Mr. Powers. We have found that the limitation upon the time
within which game may be Ivilled and the limitation upon the amount
of game that can be killed, rather than any legislation as to the
weapon, has been able in our State to increase the amount of game,
and thei'e is much more there than there was ten years ago.
Mr. BovEE. Certainly that is constitutional and is the jjractical
;
So that youwill sec that the precise (juestion arose in that case in
respect to the ordinance. That was the oidy question before the
court on which the man was brought up on habeas corpus. What
did Judge Ross say ? I quote from his language
But surely, in a case like the one at bar, where there is no question of the
public safet.v, public health, or public morals, and where the prohibited act is
in no respect malum in se, the absolute prohibition of the use of one's own
property on his own land can not be held to be a reasonable exercise of the
police power, when regulations will plainly attain the end desired by the legis-
lation in question. In the present instance, what was the end sought? Mani-
festly only the prevention of the taking or killing by one person of more than
2r> quail, jiartridge, or grouse in any one day for section 3 of the ordinance
:
provides " Every person who, in the county of Marin, shall take, kill, or de-
:
stroy more than 2.5 quail, partridge, or grouse in one day, and every person
who, in the county of Marin, shall have in his possession in any one day more
: :
^t^09
AUTOMATIC SHOTGUN. 21
The equal jirotection of thelaws to which every person is, by the provision
of the Constitution of the United States above quoted, declared entitled, would
indeed be a vain thing if such discriminatory legislation was sustained by the
courts. If section 7 of the ordinance in question Is valid, no reason is perceived
why the process of elimination may not be extended by next prohibiting the
use of the double-barreled automatic-ejector shotgun, next all but muzzle-load-
ing gnus, and so on until the poiigun only is permitted to be used upon wild duck,
geese, quail, partridge, grouse, doves, or other birds in Marin Country. Laws
enacted in the exei'cise of the police power, whether by a municipal corpora-
tion acting in pursuance of the laws of a State, or by a State itself, must be
i-easonahle and arc always subject to the provisions of both the Federal and
State '-'nstitutions. and thev are always subject to judicial .scrutiny. (Yick
Wo c. Hopkins. 118 U. S.. 372: Forster r. Scott. l.Sfi N. Y.. 577. .584: Toledo.
Wabash & W. R. P.. Co. v. City of .Jacksonville, 67 111., 37; Ex parte Whittwell,
»8 Cal.. 7.3.)
Further on he says
Enough has been said, I think, to show that the section of the ordinance
under which the petitioner was convicted and is imprisoneil is unconstitutional
and void.
The Chairman. Mr. Bovee. Mr. Shields in the course of his re-
marks called attention to certain laws of certain States and to cer-
tain decisions regulating the bore and the weight of the gun.
Now, if you may regulate the bore and weight of a gun why may
you not regulate the number of sliots that may be fired by a gun?
It struck me that that was an important jioint suggested by Mr.
Shields.
Mr. Bovee. I do not know that the legislation to which he has
called attention has ever passed the test of judicial scrutiny.
The Chairman. I understood Mr. Shields to cite some decision.
Mr. Shields. On various points, but not on that. But as a
matter of fact those cases have come up. In those States regulating
the bore of the gun and regiilating the use of swivel guns those
cases have gone into the courts.
The Chairman. Can either of you gentlemen cite a decision on
those things?
INIr. Bo\'ee. I have stated the facts in tlie case of Marshall in the
United States circuit coui't, with respect to precisely this matter.
I know of no case where the constitutional question has been raised
in an act limiting the bore of a gun. I do not know that there is any
such legislation. It may be so, but I do not know of any case where
it has 2^assed judicial scrutiny' where the constitutional question has
been raised.
Mr. Powers. In your practice Ijefore the United States circuit
— —
courts I have no doubt that it has been large have you not found
that the different circuits in different States often decided exactly
the same questions entirely different?
Mr. Bovee. I can not recall the number of circuit judges that there
are. I can perhaps answer your question best by a personal remi-
niscence. Some years ago I had an important litigation against a
great Pittsburg steel concern. Park Brothers & Co. I removed the
case into the Federal court for defendant. Plaintiffs moved to I'c-
mand. They first went into the State court and moved to vacate the
order of removal, and in the course of my investigation of that ques-
tion I found that many circuit courts of the United States were dia-
metrically opposed to each other, as has been suggested, and that the
weight of authority was in favor of removal by reason of the fact
that that great justice of the Supreme Court of th6 United States,
711
AUTOMATIC SHOTGUN. 23
limit the number in the possession, shorten the season (as ahnost
every State in tlie Union has clone), and control the sale, thej^ have
the killing of game controlled to as great an extent as it can possibly
he done at this particular time. This, gentlemen, is along the line of
game protection.
ilv friend Shields comes here and tells you that he has expended
$15,000 of his own money in the protection of game. Gentlemen, I
will tell you that that is absoliitelj' true but at the same time he has
;
expended this $15,000 he has gathered in from the dear people of this
country by contributions $100,000. I do not know whether Mr.
Shields knows how much it has been himself. He tells you about the
organization of the League of American Sportsmen, of 20,000 mem-
bers. I am not a member of that association. That is the only gold
brick that I have not purchased. [Laughter.] But a member of
that association before the legi.slative committee in Albany, N. Y.,
said "' Gentlemen, I am a member of the League of American Sports-
:
men, and it is organized jnst as you formerly organized the Buffa- '
loes"
——
of this country.'" He says Mr. Shields is the great pro-
tecti%e means of this organization " You are asked to join the
League of American Sportsmen, and the fee is a dollar. You write
on t(i Mr. Shields, send your dollar, and he says. I am the presi-
•
dent of this association, and you are a member, and I have got your
dollar." and that is all there is of it."
Mr. Shields says that it is from no financial interest that he comes
here and represents this bill. I cite you to the list of donators as
named in his March magazine, and that shows how in the last month
he has gathered together $400 from all quarters of the world, by rep-
resenting the automatic gun as the great destroyer of game birds and
animals. I am satisfied that he could get a subscription from each
and everj- one of you gentlemen if you coidd hear his pathetic word
picture, and he has amassed in the last month about $400 (carpenters'
—
wages better than the union scale) and why would he not come here
;
not tell what it isgoing to Jo; you may kill only ona of them, and
you may kill all But with the automatic gun we make but
of them.
the one size of bore. He speaks of the 10-gauge gun and the 8-gauge
gun. We make nothing but the 12-gauge, one of the smallest size
used by sportsmen. It can not be loaded with anything but a certain
amount of ammunition. It can not be utilized in killing song and
insectiverous birds, for the reason that the load is such that it woidd
blow that little bird clear out of existence.
He cites you to the Boone and Crockett Club and other clubs of
New York, composed of men who are willing and aide to own their
own preserves and do own them. I was talking with a man not
long ago, walking down the .street with him after a meeting, and I
said to him, " Why do you oppose this automatic gun? " He said.
•'
Oh, you American manufacturers don't make anything that is fit
to be sold or used, anyway." He said, " Take my English gun, and
just look how fine that is; all rubbed down by hand." "But," I
said, •'
our American citizens, most of them, can not stand it to pur-
chase that kind of a gun." He wanted an Pjiglish gun, and that
was just the kind of a man that I would approach to unload a $700
gun on, and they are just the people that Mr. Shields cites to you
to-day. They Avere the people that he landed for a gold brick,
Ijerhajjs.
Now. in regard to the communications from the sportsmen's asso-
ciations of this country, they have the National Game Wardens'
convention, where each year the game wardens from each State in
the United States meet. They convened in St. Paul on the 24th and
'
AUTOMATIC SHOTGUN. 27
ing as to our observation ami experience with an automatic and repeating shot-
gun. Out of many liundretls of guns that our wardens have siezed from jioach-
ers in the State of Oliio, we never have so far secured an automatic shotgun.
By careful reference to records, we find that the wardens have only secured from
tour to five repeating shotguns out of every hundred seized. This proves to me
conclusively that neither of these guns are in the hands of the poacher and
game hog. as a rule. It is a fact that if all the hunters iu this State were com-
pelled to use the repeating or automatic shotgun instead of the guns of their
choice, they would kill less game than is killed to-day by using such giuis As they
familiar with.
.':re
In regard to the protection of game, I have expressed myself in an article
addressed to the National Game Wardens" Association, at St. Paul, that no
amount of prohibitory or gun legislation will ever result in again restocking this
State with game birds; that the physical conditions of our country are such
that it is impossible to expect such legislation to remedy it. If there is any legis-
lation that will remedy present conditions, limit the bag jier diem, number found
m possession, prohibit sale and cold storage, and provide a suitable home that
will afford protection from their natural enemies and inclemency of the weather.
Tours, very truly,
J. C. PORTERFIELD. Chief Wuiileii.
peojjle and ask you to drop into the Territories and enact this
legislation. Avhen he was the father of 35 bills that were introduced
last year, some two or three in a State, and not one of those bills
became a law ? The States turned it down, and now he comes here and
asks you to "' rake his chestnuts out of the fire " by slipping the
—
Territories in this to make capital for him, to obtain contributions.
We say that this is wrong, and we ask you simply to leave the matter
as it stands.
O
718
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS